The Crossing ProjectLiving, Dying and Transformation
in Banaras ~ An Exposition(+lectures and presentations over
three evenings)Visual Arts Gallery,
India Habitat Center, New Delhi, India
November 25 - December 3, 2001
[by Amaar Abbas]

New
age documentary art drawing close to a seer's vision of life,
death and the in between. The artists did well to have a surreal
impact and effect on the peoples' eye as soon as they entered
the exhibit space. One immediately noticed a well-treated effect;
lots of sounds, put together like a funky arty mish mash or maybe
it was just dream like, at the least; it at least tried to be.It
was refreshing to have moving "imaged" spirituality
rather than, just the usual stiff stuff on walls, which you have
to think and wonder about or at least pretend to.

There was a nice flow to the show, from
one artists work to another. They all had a circulating string
that was but obvious at a glance; God. The basic theme,
ventured out into the open and encapsulated conversations of
and about death from the ones who know; the bodies of man which
are subtle and causal, besides the gross physicality of an in
and out, taking and throwing vehicle. There was also some talk
about the myths being only myths; euphemisms of the divine type
of personality that has no finality but is splendid in his/her
own being. An unlimited sort of creature we must all aspire to
be or at least rare if we aren't already (rare or raring whichever
comes or came first; I've even asked the chicken but it refuses
to budge from it's verdict of - I can't say.) The team of artists;
who spent a year and a lot more money, seemed to have been on
a mission to wisen up the unwise. By the looks of it; it took
about 40 to 50 wise people, technicians, and pretty looking girls
who didn't really know what was going on but nevertheless assured
me they were there, showing a helping hand. So, there's no taking
away from the fact that a lot of thought and hard work was at
play.There were some south Indian looking images depicting the
Gods and their worship; which in terms of mathematics would be
called cyclical. Sri Sri Krishna (as the iskon people enunciate,)
was (on the image) worshipping shiva's lingam, and the creative/destructive
personality had his hands held up in veneration to the, oh so
only singular form of an otherwise multiple sort of character
Vishnu; who as far as the legends go back, tell us of his taking
form materially as and when he pleased and pleases as much as
he pleases. (Vishnu happens to be the preserver of the universe,
for the unknowing ones; so be assured, he can pop up anytime
to save the world, mythically and mysteriously at least.) Around
the gods worship that goes round and round there were also the
rest of humanity; a humanity that seemed searching, lost and
too many of them. The video images were many, and kept moving
and stopping as and when the artists thought necessary. The images were sometimes on interesting objects
and otherwise had some eminently interesting and mysterious people
as the image.

They had it all; from the modixerox
corp. through a Dr, called Dr Deepak Chopra, to a Swami, and
a Lama who looked really sweet and oscillating, inspite of his
stillness. The exposition tried to create an ambiance as all
exhibits do; unfortunately the ambiance seemed to point to a
direction where there were way too many roads to choose from.
Banaras in all it's colours and manifestations in that exhibit
space seemed an unending pointless and confusing place to be.
No way in hell or heaven would I bother about living or dying
in Banaras. All said and done it was an interesting half hour
of this that and not to mention or forget - DEATH.

~x~

Overview

Here was an extraordinary exhibition.
A production pieced together by a massive team working with a
robust corporate R&D scale budget over more than a year towards
this one goal. Full kudos first, therefore, to Xerox Corp. for
funding such creative endeavour via the activities of Xerox PARC
(The Palo Alto Research Center).

Over the years, PARC has earned itself
a legendary reputation as "the birthplace of the personal
computer" and so much else of technology today, including
the first laser printer, commercial mouse and the point-and-click
graphical user interface that finally made computers so user-friendly.

It was therefore sad to read in the
Economic Times of December 13, 2001 that Xerox is in talks to
sell off a part of PARC to raise cash it desperately needs to
stay alive through slumping sales and what's now added up to
five straight quarters of losses.

Having said all that, what actually
was the Crossing project exhibition all about?

Well, to begin with, such a quantity
of audio and video rolling all at the same time certainly could
have gained from a lot more space and a little less ambient light,
but we can let that pass since the exhibition moves on now to
other spaces in Mumbai, and then New York.

Base content is essentially a lot of
simple traditional Indian line-drawing imagery interspersed with
some video, ranged from the studiedly mundane through to purpose-orientated
footage of various creative, performance and knowledge masters.

The individual artifacts these various
strains of information-stimuli are all built into and around
is what is most striking, and that's really what it's all about
in the end ~ creative new ways and means to technologically communicate
(and interact with) information. In this case, information on
the timeless holy Indian city of Varanasi (referred to throughout
the show literature however, by the anglicized and outdated "Banaras").

On entry then, first item to the right:
a data-projector atop a handsome metal rig projects a road-junction
onto a floor-level screen with various sorts of traffic density
moving about in synch to the notional time of day, as represented
by a dial in a corner of the projection. All
of the images are rendered in traditional Indian line drawing.
Two bicycle rims spin horizontally atop handsome aluminum bases,
varying speed to reflect levels of activity on the road-junction,
which in turn is said to reflect by all this a particularly famous
road-junction in Varanasi.

Other items: revolving flat monitors
that take viewers through panorama pictures of Varanasi as one
revolves them upon their bases while synchronously circumambulating
the devices; screens responding to 'digital documents' picked
up or placed upon them; horizontally mounted bicycle rims with
individual spokes wired to trigger different sounds; garments
wired to respond with patterns of light to proximity, and/or
control multimedia projections with simple micro-switches built
into the embroidery; large and gleaming egg-shaped wireless remotes
of brass, with switches for scrolling through projected multimedia
(wish they'd glowed or vibrated or hummed or something when picked
up though); and so on and so forth.

It was a bit of a pity that that most
of the interactive multimedia material seemed uninterruptible,
with chosen segments playing out entirely before one could move
to others. However, since that's probably just a little software
matter, perhaps it was all intended to be so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's the text from the
show-flyers, beginning with text off the invitation card:

"Spanning a rich space of expression
ranging from "ritual to robotics," The Crossing Project
presents new idioms of Indian
Creativity, combining culture and technology, and presents a
new form of interaction design for the world, termed the "Living
Document."

We invite you to explore the sacred
knowledge of Banaras through Living Documents: from Rickshaw
wheels that you can play with to produce sitar music, to e-jackets
that you can click on to experience Yogi's states of meditation,
to e-pots that you hold to learn about the creation myth of the
Ganges, to hi-touch interfaces integrating futuristic technology
with traditional art.

The project is directed by Ranjit
Makkuni, Xerox PARC Researcher and Principal Investigator, Active
Learning Project, and created with the participation of Dr. Madhu
Khanna, Project Scholar, together with India's top scholars,
artists, craftpersons, computer researchers, videographers and
designers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Static to Living
Documents ~ A New Wave of Digital Document Experiences

The Living Document presents a new
paradigm for the presentation of and interaction with digital
documents. This new wave of digital document experiences examines
the relationship of the human body to technology.

Brilliantly designed Living Documents
bridge the physical and virtual worlds. They have been developed
right here in India under the direction of Ranjit Makkuni, PARC
researcher together with India's intellectual and artistic talent.

We invite you to take a glimpse of
The Crossing Living Documents that bring alive Banaras, India's
2000 year old multidimensional and multifaceted center of learning.

Smart High Touch Wireless Information
Devices that allow multilevel access
Living Documents come alive through smart, high touch wireless
information devices which are aesthetically more beautiful and
a much richer alternative to the button pushing, disembodied
computer interfaces being used presently. What's more, they engage
people at different levels - artists, technologists, designers
and research scholars to design interface tools to bring alive
myriad facets of the living culture of Banaras.

The Crossing ~ Learning
and Transformation in Banaras

The artistic and intellectual expressions
of the sacred geography of Banaras, the city of light and knowledge
inspire The Crossing Project. For over 2000 years, Banaras has
been home to scholars and saints, travelers and knowledge seekers,
musicians and artists, pilgrims and visitors alike. For each
one, Banaras is a crossing point that provides potent, living
symbols of the relationship of Man to the larger Cosmos, life
and death, matter and energy. The
Crossing Project integrates art, science and culture on one interactive
digital document experience on the rich domain of Banaras.

Notions of Body and Awareness
The Crossing allows users to access the knowledge representations
of a site of sacred geography and learning, Banaras. The content
of The Crossing is invaluable as it presents fundamental notions
of the body and awareness that have been developed in Indian
thought.

The Crossing ~ Living Documents
Live Connection to Cultural Practice
Touch the Feet of the Gurus with Interactive Physical Icons
For over 2000 years, the Buddha, Adi Sankara, Mahavira pondered
life's fundamental questions in Banaras. It is also the home
of classical music, dance and textile traditionThe gurus here
continue to transmit to students the living experience of self-realisation.
By using the interactive wireless physical icons people can access
the knowledge of the gurus.

Shiva and the Ganges
It is believed that Lord Shiva lives in Banaras through his invisible
forms to liberate human kind from ignorance. In Banaras the Ganga
takes on a special meaning cosmologically, physically and metaphysically.
The Ganga is the river of healing, pure, life giving, yet faced
with environmental deterioration. The Crossing documents provide
content access to the representations of Shiva and the Ganges.

Personal Display Interfaces
Personal display interfaces in the shape of hundreds of lings
of knowledge connect users to the multiple forms of Shiva, the
presiding deity of Banaras ­ through well researched documents
on Shiva Paintings, music, dance and scholarship.

Mobile Multimedia Documents
The Crossing mobile documents allow users to access knowledge
on diverse levels ­ on the sacred geography of Banaras, on
the Ganga, on ecology, ob Shiva legends and discourses on death.

The Crossing ~ Technology
A Physical and Virtual Learning Experience.
The Crossing Project creates a physical / virtual multimedia
exhibit in which the learner is physically engulfed in the knowledge
space. Body responsive kinaesthetic interfaces allow a beautiful,
expressive vision of the Living Document experience.

Embodies Virtuality and Telerobotics
A new wave of digital document experiences emerges as The Crossing
Project re-examines the relationship of the human body to technology.
A rich suite of knowledge portals reflects embodied virtuality
to bridge the physical and virtual worlds. These new high touch
portals include the knowledge egg, the paper-multimedia, wearable
computing as also portals with embodied user interfaces like
tilt-based browsing, gestural interfaces, and interactive physical/virtual
interfaces that allow multilevel access for responsive and animated
physical environments.

Ranjit Makkuni is a Xerox Palo Alto
Research Center multimedia researcher, designer and musician.
He joined the PARC Systems Concepts Lab in 1985 and became part
of the visionary group which developed SmallTalk-80 Object Oriented
programming language and the world's first Graphic User Interface.

His explorations in computer-aided
design and research into new paradigms for interface and presentation
led to an interesting research space, Active Learning. He applied
that to The Electronic Sketch book of Tibetan Thangka Painting,
one of the world's first multimedia applications. In 1998 The
Gita Govinda Multimedia Experience in collaboration with India's
top scholars and designers at the Indira Gandhi Centre for National
Arts won him acclaim.

Ranjit continues to explore non-button
pushing, gesture based interfaces. His projects go beyond just
demonstrating futuristic technology. In his current project,
The Crossing, he brings to life the authenticity of traditional
ideals on primal ecology, learning and healing which are simultaneously
contemporary. Participation of diverse artists, designers and
scholars preserves viewpoints of people whose skills face the
threat of extinction.

Proficiency in multimedia technology
as well as traditional art allow Ranjit to bridge multiple worlds
- between technology and art, the techno-man and traditional
man and between the developed and developing worlds.